This sounds good! Just one question - how will Stakes play into the regionals?Linda

At this point we're not going to be doing stakes for the regionals anymore. They don't really make any sense to be used in a regional since the main advantage is getting to run in finals, which all bonus dogs get to do regardless.

And I would hate to see a dog going to Championships just from winning a regional, when the odds are incredibly great it would be the only dog there in certain areas. So you would essentially just have to show up and get a automatic invite to Champs. Which isn't really in the spirit of what we're trying to do here.

I'm hoping that I am completely misunderstanding what Chris has said regarding Stakes at all the Regionals otherwise I will be really disappointed with the concept of having a "Regional" program. From my perspective (I do Bonus runs at trials and have *and continue to want to* run in Stakes at Champs ), being able to run in Finals wouldn't be the "main advantage" to winning the class at a Regional because, yes, Stakes dogs run in the Finals. It's the opportunity to be able to get the "automatic invite" that is *THE* super duper "prize". It's hard enough to get a Bonus run as it is, even harder now that in some areas there are less trials available to try and, as Chris has said before, not many trials at all in some areas. All of that makes it darn tough to get those elusive Bonus points for qualifying.

I really don't understand Chris' comment, "So you would essentially just have to show up and get a automatic invite to Champs." How different is that from any other class winner? Sure, the odds are totally in favor of a regular class dog Q'ing and "winning" the class that way, but how fair is that to the Bonus dogs? It should be an equal playing field. Actually, what does it hurt to "invite" these Bonus dogs? In some situations it's more than likely they won't be coming to Champs anyway due to distance, costs, etc. But if they are able to come now that they have been "invited" - how fun would that be to see dogs from all over the country who may not have been able to get those Bonus points due to lack of trials? It would be awesome!

Please re-think this, Chris and Amanda. What harm is it? It sure won't be much added extra time at Champs for a few extra Bonus runs. You also get more entry fees! Yay!

Attending multiple would be fine, although we would obviously only count one win.

If someone did win first place in two different regionals, and if only one counts, would the person in second place in the second Regional be the winner for that class? Or would the repeat winner just not count for that class, but no one else would take over the first spot either?

In USDAA, the regionals winner is the winner, and the bye is not passed down to the next place, because the next place dog did not truly earn it according to the rules. That would not be fair to the dog who did the work correctly.

AAC has a way to bypass this, by actually defining regions. If someone competes at a regional that is not their "home region" they are not allowed to earn a placement, and therefore cannot take top spots away from others.

With all Regional winners getting an automatic bye into the Finals round at Championships, does this mean that Champs winners will be determined by the Finals score only or will it remain as it is now (highest cumulative score for all 8 rounds)?

Attending multiple would be fine, although we would obviously only count one win.

If someone did win first place in two different regionals, and if only one counts, would the person in second place in the second Regional be the winner for that class? Or would the repeat winner just not count for that class, but no one else would take over the first spot either?

We wouldn't allow someone to win multiple times. They could attend multiple ones, but once they win they are no longer in contention for winning another.

This sounds good! Just one question - how will Stakes play into the regionals?Linda

At this point we're not going to be doing stakes for the regionals anymore. They don't really make any sense to be used in a regional since the main advantage is getting to run in finals, which all bonus dogs get to do regardless.

And I would hate to see a dog going to Championships just from winning a regional, when the odds are incredibly great it would be the only dog there in certain areas. So you would essentially just have to show up and get a automatic invite to Champs. Which isn't really in the spirit of what we're trying to do here.

I'm hoping that I am completely misunderstanding what Chris has said regarding Stakes at all the Regionals otherwise I will be really disappointed with the concept of having a "Regional" program. From my perspective (I do Bonus runs at trials and have *and continue to want to* run in Stakes at Champs ), being able to run in Finals wouldn't be the "main advantage" to winning the class at a Regional because, yes, Stakes dogs run in the Finals. It's the opportunity to be able to get the "automatic invite" that is *THE* super duper "prize". It's hard enough to get a Bonus run as it is, even harder now that in some areas there are less trials available to try and, as Chris has said before, not many trials at all in some areas. All of that makes it darn tough to get those elusive Bonus points for qualifying.

I really don't understand Chris' comment, "So you would essentially just have to show up and get a automatic invite to Champs." How different is that from any other class winner? Sure, the odds are totally in favor of a regular class dog Q'ing and "winning" the class that way, but how fair is that to the Bonus dogs? It should be an equal playing field. Actually, what does it hurt to "invite" these Bonus dogs? In some situations it's more than likely they won't be coming to Champs anyway due to distance, costs, etc. But if they are able to come now that they have been "invited" - how fun would that be to see dogs from all over the country who may not have been able to get those Bonus points due to lack of trials? It would be awesome!

Please re-think this, Chris and Amanda. What harm is it? It sure won't be much added extra time at Champs for a few extra Bonus runs. You also get more entry fees! Yay!

Thanks,Kyle

We talked about it at length today with a few different folks.

We can't do winners. I just don't feel okay with having one dog showing up, getting the highest score because they are the only dog, and getting an invite to Champs.

But, I think we can make it work where a good bonus team can still get an invite to Champs via a regional weekend alone. We're going to work out some more details over the next couple days and when the kinks are straightened we'll post the criteria on the regional page.

There won't be winners. But there could be a Champs invite in the deal.

We can't do winners. I just don't feel okay with having one dog showing up, getting the highest score because they are the only dog, and getting an invite to Champs.

But, I think we can make it work where a good bonus team can still get an invite to Champs via a regional weekend alone. We're going to work out some more details over the next couple days and when the kinks are straightened we'll post the criteria on the regional page.

There won't be winners. But there could be a Champs invite in the deal.

Please consider this - what would you do if there is only one, let's say, 4" dog at a Regional? Does it have to be "good" (as you stated a bonus team would have to be)? Tough decisions!

That was my thought too Kyle, separate from Stakes. Some of the regionals could potentially be pretty small, with small classes. There are very few people who travel to trials in our area. I think we had 9 people at Champs last year which was a big group for us and those are pretty much the only people who travel for trials.

We can't do winners. I just don't feel okay with having one dog showing up, getting the highest score because they are the only dog, and getting an invite to Champs.

But, I think we can make it work where a good bonus team can still get an invite to Champs via a regional weekend alone. We're going to work out some more details over the next couple days and when the kinks are straightened we'll post the criteria on the regional page.

There won't be winners. But there could be a Champs invite in the deal.

Please consider this - what would you do if there is only one, let's say, 4" dog at a Regional? Does it have to be "good" (as you stated a bonus team would have to be)? Tough decisions!

I will look forward to seeing the criteria.

Thanks,Kyle

If there was only one 4" team they wouldn't get the bye. It has to be a competition.

If they wanted to be grouped with the next highest height group, then they could go for it. But I absolutely will not be letting anyone get an invite just for showing up.

Ok, thanks Chris! We have a crazy busy schedule this summer so I'm just not sure we can make the regionals. But my son really wants to go to champs this year so I'm trying to find a way to make it work.

And if the Maryland trial is snowed out?? With the winter we've been having, I wouldn't be surprised if we are still having blizzards by end of March. How is it that all the other dates are more firmly entrenched in spring/summer?

When I read your original statement "We're not going to do Stakes for regionals anymore", I was shocked. It made no sense to me that you would eliminate a group of people and their dogs. I'm glad that I read on to see that you are reconsidering your original statement and are trying to determine a way to include the Stakes competitors. Yay! I'm glad that you have made this decision and I look forward to the results of it.